FREDERICTON, New Brunswick, April 9, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Radio-Canada tweeted today that the “abortion clinic in Fredericton will close its doors,” but a local pro-life activist is not so sure.
“It’s just rumor. The only hard fact we know is there’s going to be a news conference tomorrow,” said Peter Ryan, executive director of the New Brunswick Right to Life Association, to LifeSiteNews.
The Morgentaler Clinic in Fredericton, New Brunswick’s single private abortion clinic that provides abortions up to 16 weeks, has been in business for 20 years, performing an estimated 500 abortions a year, according to Radio Canada.
When LifeSiteNews asked a receptionist at the clinic if the rumors were true, she responded that she had “no comment.”
Ryan said a “big fuss” has been made lately over the abortion clinic’s supposedly insufficient funding to continue its business of killing unborn children.
Last month students from St. Thomas University, a Catholic institution in Fredericton, launched a petition as part of a social justice project asking the New Brunswick government to fund abortions at the clinic. While abortion is covered at taxpayers’ expense in the province’s hospitals, it is not covered at the province’s single private Morgentaler clinic.
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“The cost for the procedure at this clinic ranges from $700-$850 for women that [sic] are up to 16 weeks in their pregnancies. This discriminates against all women, (especially those of lower socio-economic status, as well as women who are sexually assaulted),” the students wrote in the change.org petition which has been signed by over 3,000 people.
A counter petition launched by New Brunswick Right to Life is urging Minister Hugh Flemming not to fund abortions at the Morgentaler Clinic. It has been signed by over 6,000 people.
“Abortion on demand does not pass the legal test of ‘medical necessity’ required by Medicare. No Canadian law or court has established that a woman has a constitutional right to abortion on demand, or that a province has a legal duty to fund abortion on demand,” the petition states.
Ryan said that while he hopes the abortion clinic will close, he thinks there is another game afoot.
“I think one possibility is it’s all a ruse on the part of the clinic to get sympathy for public funding.”
“They might just pull this as a stunt to say ‘Yeah, we’re closing’ and then hope for a big uproar [from people] who will say ‘We need to save the clinic.’”
“Of course I hope the news is good, but we’ll see what they say,” he said.
The Morgentaler Clinic will have a press conference tomorrow morning.